There is something primal stirring in the depths of the UK rock scene, a lascivious force brewing up filthy attitude stained rock ‘n’ roll which is salacious and destructive, rabid and addictive and it goes by the name of The Likkor Men. The quartet from Redcar has just released new EP There Will Be Blood, a carnal beast of a release infesting the psyche as sonically it tries to live up to its declaration, and a fear breeding proposition it is truly hard to get enough of.
Formed in 2014 supposedly to “keep the members out of trouble”, The Likkor Men create a ravenous sound which is hard to pin down but openly corrupts everything from blues, garage, and punk rock to industrial, noise, and psychedelia. Most likely an introduction of the band to a great many, There Will Be Blood is their second EP but easy to feel the moment The Likkor Men asylum comes under true scrutiny.
The release instantly has the senses challenged with the outstanding Black Widow, noise and samples colluding to tenderise before heavy footed riffs stroll hungrily in as swinging beats bite. Blues grooves entangle the trespass as vocals prowl, a punk throated backing adding to the pleasure as the controlled chaos twists and turns. There is something of The Birthday Party meets Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers as Down fingers the union about the infestation but equally more than a whiff of bands like The Sonics and MC5 in the swamp of sound and dirt though what emerges is a scuzz storm all Likkor Men.
The opener remains the pinnacle of the release but is seriously harassed throughout with next up Young Blood needing little time to seduce and pervert ears and imagination. Ravishing the senses like a defiled fusion of Rob Zombie, Arthur Brown, and The Stooges, the track is wired rock ‘n’ roll as off-kilter as it is skilfully woven to invade and trespass the psyche. Deceptively catchy it is aural loco, a ruinous psych rock invasion infecting the listener like radiation.
Crazed easily applies to Sweet Talkin’ Mamma too, a sexual corruption built on the most addictive rhythmic strolls as fuzzy flames and toxic grooves like spewed by the pied piper like trespass. It is sonic bedlam, an insatiable lure of noise and rhythmic flirtation which maybe is a touch over long but teases and seduces from its depraved start to its libertine finish.
That sexual edge is taken to greater tension within closing song, Hunter. It is a nagging throb of rhythms and heavy riffs beneath sonic breezes of guitar. From the midst, gravel throated vocals, as throughout the EP, stir up the dirty business around them, grooves and hooks seeming to react decadently around them though everything is in its basest most single minded form to simply incite the listener’s rock ‘n’ roll instincts. Sixties garage rock is a rich fuel to the final assault, its contaminated strains sweet liquor within the soiled goodness.
There Will Be Blood will not be for the clean cut appetites among you but for those with wanton urges for rock ‘n’ roll in its grubbiest invigorating form no-one will be left wanting, only feeling very, very dirty.
There Will Be Blood is out now through Moon Skull Records @ https://moonskull.bandcamp.com/album/there-will-be-blood
https://www.facebook.com/TheLikkorMen/
Pete RingMaster 15/09/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The robustly stirring encounter is followed by The Revelation, an even more imposingly catchy enticement body and vocal chords alone fall before in swift time. Co-written with Ben Christo, long-serving guitarist with The Sisters of Mercy, the track roams with a predacious intent, its creative indoctrination built on waves of persistence honed into thought provoking, body twisting primal seduction. With an additional Ministry-esque nagging around glimpses of cinematic theatre, the song is pure devil spawn scheming, Watts the insidious engineer.
I’m Not The One comes next, its cowpunk flavouring another easy to embrace temptation and the spicy lining to the track’s contagious swing before the album’s title track brings a dirtier, grittier slab of rock ‘n’ roll to the party. Both tracks hit the spot dead centre, the second with a tone reminding of The Peacocks but equally each is overshadowed by the rousing rumble and incitement of Losing The Fight. With anthemic rhythms alone stoking up feverish fires, the song ensnares eager ears and appetite, treating both to a mesh of sultry melodies over relentlessly catchy rhythms.
The EP’s title track is first up, its homage to cult movie gem Evil Dead pure invasive theatre. From its initial piano cursed fingering of the imagination, the track twists into a predacious stroll with infection seeping from every pore. Swinging beats and a heavy rapacious bassline courts the senses whilst a seductively nagging hook teases, Firewalker barging in with his vocal roar as raucously backed by the vociferous tones of Phillips. Dragging the listener into its transfixing hellbound realm prone to caustic expulsions, harrying them with a gloriously plodding prowl, the track reveals itself as raw virulence cast in something approaching The Cramps meeting Th’ legendary Shack Shakers as The Orson Family add their incestuous lures ultimately emerging as a depraved invasion all of the band’s making.
Your Dangerous Mind has a less undisciplined bounce, its saunter more flirtation than aggression and just as irresistible as Hampshire with grainy texture croons, backed by his cohorts within tangy grooves and hip inciting rhythms. The r&b essences of the song are just as ripe as its brisk punk serenade, chaining a body and imagination which is soon firmly hooked again by the sultry rumba of I Don’t Understand Her Any More. As with most tracks, a collusion of decades is at masterful play, sixties garage pop and seventies surf rock hues potent spices as too the fuzzy buzz of organ in the gentle but keen canter of a song.
Its success is matched by the earthy majesty of All My Days and in turn the flaming revelling of There’s Always A Way. The first of the pair keenly walks and then bounds through ears, more flirtatious rhythms seizing body and spirit as vocals and melodies paint a brooding yet warmly alluring picture. Virulently catchy with keys and harmonies bordering salacious, the outstanding track is matched in majesty by its successor, a Cajun-esque dance with spicy harmonica and woozy melodies within a climate of moonshine fuelled, and inspired carnival.